At the beginning of the personal computer era the equipment included a processor, display, keyboard and/or pointing device (e.g., mouse), disk drive and perhaps a printer, all located on a desktop. One of the principle uses of these computer systems, in addition to local computing in terms of word processing and spread sheets, was access to the internet. In response to a desire for mobility, laptop computers were developed that included the processor, keyboard, pointing device, disk drive and display in a single case that was some what portable. Over time the size and weight of laptops improved so that they became more portable.
A later development was the advent of smaller and even more mobile devices called tablets. However, these tablet devices tended to have limited computing capability, and sometimes were basically single use devices, e.g., a Kindle® book reader. However, they did have the ability to connect to the internet. Docketing stations were developed along with these tablets which acted as convenient ways to charge the device.
More recently the computing power of tablets has increased and a desire to use them as the processor of a desktop setup has increased. Examples include the Apple® IPad® and the Microsoft Surface Pro. In particular, a user of the tablet can use it outside of the office or home, with limited printing and display capabilities. Then, when the user returns to the office or home this device can be plugged into a docking station for recharging. Further, the docking station can provide connections to a display, printer or other computer peripheral devices at that location to form a desktop computing system with the tablet at its heart. Examples of this are the Toshiba 7″ Tablet Dock and the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet Dock.
Currently docking stations are especially designed for a particular tablet. They have a vertically extending slot which is sized for the tablet and typically a connector is provided at the bottom of the slot to engage a bottom connector on the tablet when the tablet is slid into the slot. However, tablets have various dimensions and utilize different connectors. As a result, the docking station for one tablet is typically unusable by another tablet.